Steam engine



.Dec. 15, 1925. 1,566,170

a. w. soul l-: ET AL STEAM ENGINE Fi y 14. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec.15, 1925- 1,566,170

G. W. SQULE ET AL STEAM ENGINE Fi y 14. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 15,1925- 1,566,170

G. w. SO'ULE ET AL STEAM ENGINE Fil y 14. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 3 & 3Z1v v WGROHWQS I .Dec. 15, 1925. 1,566,170

G. w. soups ET Al. 7

sum ENGINE Filed July 14. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 G. W. SOULE ET AL STEAMENGINE Fi y 14. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Dec. 15, 1925.

UNITED STAT PATENT 'QYFEICE- GEORGE w. scorn, DEGEASED, Lease orMEaInmn; rssrssrrri; Bi: con'srnnon G. SOULE AND CLYDE WpSOULE,EXEoUnoIgs, or rtnmmniq, ivrrsslssrrnr; Ann CLYDE w. SOULE, OF MERIDIAN,rssrssrer r, essrenons To soULn'sT nM FE D WORKSLA conronn'rron orMrssIssrPrI.

STEAM GIN Apphcation f led July 14, H223. Serial No. 651,605.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that GEORGE W. SOULE, deceased, in his lifetime a citizen ofthe United States, and a resident of Meridian, Mississippi, and CLYDE V.SOULE,& citizen of the United States, and residing at Meridian,Mississippi, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Steam Engines; and it is declared that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to improvements in steam engines, and moreparticularly to engines in which directional rotation of the same iscontrolled by means of a reversing valve without the interposition ofthe usual reversing gear. The engine has been particularly designed foruse in driving saw mill carriages in small or medium size mills withlimited boiler power, but the engine is capable of much Widerapplication.

The inventionhas for its object'toimprove upon engines of the typeindicated'in various particulars, among which may be mentioned theprovision of a twin cylinder engine wherein the cylinders and frame arecastin one piece so as to provide a sturdy engine and one which can bereadily and economically manufactured; to so dispose the crank shaft inthe engine frame as to permit direct coupling to either end thereof ofthe shaft or machinery to be driven; to provide means in connection withthe engine frame which will permit the mounting of the reversingcontrolling gear on one side or the other thereof in accordance with.the requirements of the particular mill in which the engine is to beused; to provide an improved form of directional controlling means forthe engine, such means including a special arrangement of steam portsand cylinde:= slide valve; and to orovide certain other improvements aswill more fully appear hereinafter, and in connection with theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specif cation.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved engine; p Figure'LZ isaplan view of the same;

is rea and iew 9. the eng nes.

Fig. 4 isa front end view ofthe engine;

F ig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55, Fig. 2; I

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the steam chest with the cover removed;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-.7, Fig. 6; J

Fig. dis a plan view of the valve chest with the cover removed;

Fig. 9'is 'a sectional view taken on the line 99,"Fig. 8;

Fig. 14) is a sectional view taken on the line 10-10, Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is a "sectionalvi'ew line 11- 11, Fig. 7;

' Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic sectional view showing the relationshipbetween various ste m'passages; 'The im"'1-oved engine is made with twocylinders arranged side by side, and cast integrally with'a frame whichsupports the crank shaft and other mechanism of the engine, theone-piece cast structure being conveniently designated the engine block,and generally designated by the numeral 1. The forward end of the framehas spaced, forwardly projecting sections 2, the ends of taken on the.which'terminate' in bearings 3, within which the crank shaft ismounted. The frame adjacent the cylinders is provided with standards orlegs 4 and the crank-sha-ft-en'd of the frame is preferably cast with adrip pan 5, and is also provided with standards or legs 6, the said legs4 and 6 serving to support the engine. proper in spaced relation fromits foundational support.

The two engine cylinders are indicated at 7 and are arranged side. byside in a horizontal'plane. The engine frame which proje'cts therefromis of open construction and has upper and lower, parallelly extendingcross head guides S, one set of guides for each cylinder. Thisarrangement of cross head guides with respect to the cylinders enables"the machining of the cross head guides by the same tool whichbores outthe cylinders, and a very material saving both in time and'lab'or isthereby efiected, as will b re i y ppl etd y t se S l e in the art.

The outer ends of the cylinder are provided with the usual heads andwhich are amiab ner, as by cap screws 10. In order to enable the frontcylinder head to be positioned and secured, the engine frame in front ofthe cross head guides 8 is provided with an enlarged opening 11, throughwhich the front cylinder head may be passed. The front cylinder head isindicated at 12, and 1s preferably screwed into the cylinder asindicated at 13, the head being provided with the usual stuffing box 14.

The piston rod is indicated at 15, the piston head at 16, the cross headat 17 and the connecting rod at 18, these parts being of more or lessconventional construction. The crank shaft is indicated at 19 and theconnecting rod 18 is connected thereto by suitable bearings 20. Anysuitable or preferred type of oiling system may be employed, oil cups 21being shown for convenience in illustration.

The cylinders are provided with steam chests 23 at their lateral sidesin such a manner that the valve seats lie in planes transverse to thehorizontal.

Referring to Fig. 7, numerals 2 L indicate a pair of communicating steamports, which may serve as conduits for live steam or exhaust steamdepending upon the directional rotation of the engine, as willhereinafter be fully explained. The steam ports which lead to therespective ends of the individual cylinders, are indicated at 25, andthese serve alternately as conduits for the admission of live steam intothe cylinder in one direction of the movement of the piston and asconduits for the exhaust steam on the return movement of the piston, aswill be readily understood.

Between the conduits or ports 25 is a port 26, which is similar to theports 24, that is to say, the port 26 will serve as a conduit for livesteam or as an exhaust port, depending upon the directional rotation ofthe engine determined by the position of the reversing valve,hereinafter more fully described. The slide valve which cooperates withthe said ports is indicated at 27, and the valve stem thereof at 28. Theback of the valve 2'? is provided with spaced seats or saddles 27,within which the valve stem 28 is received, and the latter is confinedagainst longitudinal movement with respect to the valve by means of setcollars 29 on the valve stem, said collars permitting relativeadjustment between the valve stem and its valve, as will be readilyunderstood. The outer end of the valve stem is slidabl received withinthe socket bearing 23 of the steam chest casing 23. The cover plate ofthe steam chest is indicated at 30 and is retained thereon in anysuitable manner by cap screws 31. The stuffing box (the packing and nutnot shown) through which the valve stem passes is indicated at 32, whichlatter is, of course, aligned with the socket bearing 23 at the oppositeend of the steam chest.

In order to provide for the more efi'ectual seating of the valve 27 onthe seat, there is provided a spring S, which is arranged between thevalve 27 and the stem 28 therefor, the spring being conveniently madefrom spring wire, which intermediate its ends is looped about the valvestem 28, and has its free ends positioned in a shallow channel in theback of the valve. This manner of positioning the ends of the spring inthe channel serves to prevent displacement of the spring along the valvestem. The spring S may be relatively light for reasons which will morefully appear hereinafter.

The end of the valve stems adjacent the stuffing box are provided withknuckles 33, which are connected to valve rods 3a, which in turn areconnected to individual eccentrics 35, preferably cast integrally withthe crank shaft and being arranged at an. angle of 90 with respect tothe adjacent crank of the crank shaft, it being understood that there isan eccentric for each crank of the crank shaft, or in other words, foreach cyl inder;

It will be noted that the ends of the crank shaft extend beyond itssupporting bearings 3 in the engine frame for some considerabledistance, and that the eccentrics 35 are disposed on the outer sides ofthe said bearings The terminal ends of the crank shaft 19 are tapered asat 36, in order to facilitate the direct coupling of the crank shaft toa shaft or other mechanism to be driven. Both ends of the crank shaftare tapered as said to permit coupling to be made at either end of thesame depending upon the conditions in the mill in which the engine is tobe used. The crank shaft is preferably a. cast member suitably cored.The crank shaft is cast with drum-like members 37 between the cranks andon either side thereof. and within these drums may be deposited heavymetal for counterbalancing the crank shaft.

The reversing valve for the engine is contained within the steam chest38, located on top of the engine cylinders. The live steam pipe whichleads to the reversing valve steam chest is indicated at 46, the coverplate of the chest being indicated at 14 and shown as secured thereto bymeans of cap screws 45. The reversing valve is a D-valvo as indicated at41, and on its back, has a U- shaped saddle within which is received avalve stem 42, the latter being confined against longitudinal movementwith respect to the valve by means of set collars 43 affixed to the rod42 on either side of the saddle, as will be readily understood. Thevalve rod e2 passes through a suitable stuffing bog; 4H (the nut andpacking therefor flow to the ports mechanism hereinafter specified.

The reversing valve il co-operates withv and 40, and. is of a size tocompletely cover these ports at one time. hen the reversing valve 41 ismoved to open the port are) the admission of live steam from the steampiped-6, steam will flow through said port 2*Jto the ports 24. in thesteam chest for the respective cylthree ports, 24, 26

inders, it being'remembered that the ports 2d are in communication. Itwill be noted that live steam-which enters the-ports 2a of the cylindersteam chest, meets the side of the slide valve 27. Referring to Fig. 7and assuming that the slidevalve 27 is moved to the right, steam willenter the front steam port 25' at the left of Fig. F and enter thecylinder and :i'ert its eX- pansive force against-the piston, which willthereupon move toward the right. Steam from the other side of the pistonat this time is being exhausted through the-other port 25 and into theport 26, this port being in communication with the port 26 in thereversing valve steam chest, by reason of the revs sing valve 41 havingbeen moved to the right, it being in communication with the port d insaid reversing valvesteam chest, the ports- .0 being in communicationwith the'exhaust pipe 6O (sce Figs. 1, 2 and 3) which is appropriatelyconnected to the reversing valve steam chest. Asloig as the reversingvalve 41-1 remains in position to all w the port 2 1 to be opened to,live steam, the slide valve 27 will, move back and forth to admit steamfrom the ports 24 into the ports 25, and the engine will run in a givendirectioiuas will be readily appreciated- Assuming that it is desired tocause the engine to rotate in the opposite direction from that aboveindicated, the reversing valve 11 will'be moved to close the port 24 andto open the port 26. tolive steam. Inasmuch as the port 24. is nowclosed to live steam, it follows that no live steam will 2a in thecylinder steam chest. It will also be observed that the port 24' will bein open communication with the port $0 in the reversing vilve steamchest. It will be further remembered that the port 26 in the reversing;valve steam chest is in direct communication with the port 26 in thecylinder steam chest, and consequently live steam will flow to the port26 when the reversing valve is in the last named position. Againassuming; that the engine cylinder slide valve 27 is at the right inFig. 7, live steam will flow from the port 26 to the port at the rig-nof the said port 26. with the result that the steam will enter thecylinder between the piston and the front cylinder head 12. It "i l berecalled that when live f-steam was admitted to tlreports24i, that theto its seat.

steam entered the port 25 at the'leftof Fig. 7, wherebysteam, wasentered into the cylinderbetween the back cylinder head 9 and thepiston. As. long as the live steam is permitted to flow into the port26, the engine will continue to rotate in its new direction.

When. the slide valve 27 moves to the left in its normal cycle ofoperation, the port 25 at, the right of the port 26 will be closed tolive steam and brought into communication with the port 24 at theright,- of the port26. It will be recalled that the port 2ft is incommunication with the port 24 in the reversing valve steam chest, andthat this latter port is closed against live steam and is in opencommunication with the port 40, which latter is in communication withthe exhaust pipe, as has already been indicated. Referring to Fig. 5,reference characters 2% indicate a continuation of the ports at and 2 1,and reference character 26 indicates a continuationofthe ports 26 and26. I

It will nowbe seen that the direction of rotation of the engine iscontrolled by the reversing valve by admitting live steam into one orthe other of theports 24l or 26. and that Whether or not the ports 24and 26 serve as ports for live steam or as exhaust ports depends uponthe positioning of the reversing valve 41. 7

It hasbeen pointed out that a spring S is preferably employed inconnection with the. slide valves to hold them to their seats.

Inasmuch as the live steam does not enter the steam chest in a manner toexert pressure on top of the slide valves, as is the usual practice insteam engine construction, means are provide d in addition to the springS to hold the slide. valves .to their seats,'such means including a port61 throuszhthe slide valve through which steam may pass, and

exert pressure upon the exterior of the valve.

A check valve. preferablyin the form of a ball 62 (Fig. 11) is placed inthe port 61 to prevent return of steam under pressure from the back ofthe valve. When the port 26 is supplying live steam, some of the steamwill enter the port 61 and find its way into the steam chest and exertpressure to hold the valve to its seat. lVhe-n the ports 2 1- are thelive steam ports, it is found that the steam which is being exhaustedthrough the port 26 will pass through the port sufficient to exertsuificient pressure on the back of the valve to hold the same to itsseat, it being; remembered that the check valve 62 will prevent thereturn of steam from the steam chest through the port 61. Also any steamthat may escape from the ports 2% and into the steam chest will assistin holding the valve the spring S in connection with the arrangementiust specified. is suiiicient to hold valve, in proper functioningposition.

It any. a so ene e ed ut hat inasmu In anv event, it is found that asthe slide valves have their faces arranged in substantially verticalplanes, it is desirable to provide a bearing 22 at the lower edge of theslide valve, this bearing having an appropriate seat at the lower end ofthe steam chest, as will be readily understood.

It has been pointed out how the directional rotation of the engine maybe controlled by the reversing valve. It will be remembered that theengine is primarily designed for operating carriages in saw mills. Theoperator who is controlling the engine to move the carriage, finds ithighly desirable to have the carriage travel in the same direction inwhich the engine-controlling lever is moved. That is to say, if thelever which controls the engine is moved to the right, it is desirablethat the carriage shall move toward the right and vice versa. In orderto allow the engine to be readily adapted to this condition, there isprovided between the reversing valve and the controlling lever therefor,a lever arrangement which will enable the directional rotation of theengine to be set as desired.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the stem 42of the reversing valve projects beyond the stufling box some distance.Operatively connected with the valve stem 42 is a lever 48, which isanchored at one end to a post 50, which is screwed into a boss 49. Thislever 48 is adapted to be controlled by a main controlling member 55,which projects upward from a rock shaft 54, which is mounted at one ofits ends on a boss 53, which projects from the engine frame.

Projecting from the rock shaft 54 is a crank arm 56, to which isconnected by means of a pin 58, a rod 57, which extends toward and isconnected to the lever 48, there being a short section of link betweenthe lever 48 and the rod 57. It will now be readily appreciated that thereversing valve can be controlled by proper manipulation of thecontrolling lever 55. If the assembly shown in Fig. 2 does not give thedesired directional rotation to the engine for a certain swingingmovement of the contrel lever 55, it is only necessary to change thelever 48 from a lever of the first class to a lever of the second class.In order to effect this change, there is provided an addi tional boss 49on the other side of the valve stem 42 to permit the removal of thefulcrum post 50 from the boss 49 to the boss 49'. When the fulcrum post'50 has been positioned at the boss 49, the lever 48 will be positionedin such a manner that the end 48 thereof will be connected to the valvestem 42 and the intermediate joint 48 will he fulcrumed or connected tothe post 50. The lever 48 is provided with an extra opening 51 so thatthe link 52 can be connected to the opening 51. By thus converting thelever 48 into a second class lever instead of a first class lever asshown in Fig. 2, means have been provided for moving the reversing valvein one direction or another with respect to the control lever.

It will be noted by reference to Fig. 2 that a pair of bosses 53 isprovided, one on each side of the engineframe, and that the terminalends of the same are tapered. The provision of a pair of bosses isdesirable in order to allow the controlling lever 55 to be positioned onone side or the other of the engine. It will, of course, be understoodthat the lever 48, which connects directly to the reversing valve, willbe appropriately disposed depending upon what side of the engine thecontrolling lever 55 is to be placed. The bosses 53 are tapered so as topermit the rock shaft 54 to be readily positioned thereon. The rockshaft 54 is preferably a whole tube, as a piece of pipe, such as may befound about the mill where the engine is to be used. The pipe which isto constitute the rock shaft is slipped over the tapered part of the lug58 and so positioned thereon as to have a free rocking fit. The otherend of the pipe or rock shaft will be positioned in a suitable bearing(not shown) of any desired form.

It may be pointed out that a convenient form of connection between thelever 48 and the valve stem 42 includes a pair of set collars 42 affixedto the stem 42 on either side of said lever. The lever 48 is preferablyyoked, as shown in Fig. 8, to receive the valve stem 42 and to receivethe post 50.

Suitable means to provide for the taking up of wear between the variousparts of the reversing controlling mechanism are preferably provided atthe joints, and such means between the fulcrum post 50 and the lever 48may conveniently take the form of a hexagonal nut 50, which will bescrewed on to the post 50, the nut having diametral recesses or a holepassing therethrough for the recep tion of pivot screws 50, which willbe screwed into the side bars of the yoke of the lever 48. A similarconnection may be used between the lever 48 and the valve stem 42.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that there has beenprovided a.

twin engine which while particularly adapted to a special use, isnevertheless well adapted to various uses and which is simple inconstruction and not liable to get out of order. While the invention hasbeen described with considerable particularity of detail, it is to bedistinctly understood that no limitations are intended except as may beimposed by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a steam engine, means for reversing the directional rotation of theengine comprising a reversing valve for cont-rolling tWo independentsteam ports, a control lever mounted at a point remote from thereversing valve, means between the control lever and the reversing valvefor moving the. said -v valve by the control lever, said means includinga lever of the first class connected to the reversing valve, said firstclass lever provided With means permitting the same to be changed into alever of a difierent class to 10 permit the reversing valve to be movedin an opposite direction having given movement of the control lever.

In testimony whereof We hereunto afiiX our signatures.

CONSTANCE G. SOULE, CLYDE W. SOULE, Eeeeewtors 0f the Estate of GeorgeW. Soule, deceased.

CLYDE W. SOULE.

